CoCo's Corner

In my first year of high school, I was not the best of students.  I met a boy and would skip school and engage in inappropriate behavior (nope, no details).  My friends and I would take off.  In fact, my very last term my sophomore year, I ended up flunking two classes.  My parents never saw that report card - that boy that I had become so very close to had joined the army - I mailed that report card to him and asked him to destroy it.  Had my dad seen that report card, I probably would have been strung up, flogged, caned or any other terrible tortures.  Funny thing, my mom and dad never did ask where that report card was. Trocadero Gardens across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower I got a little more serious in my junior year.  Started making a plan for my future.  I became very interested in business education classes and put all my extra energies there.  I was a fast typist, loved doing 10-key, took business law, was great at shorthand and any other business classes that I coul

This has been a long and glorious Thanksgiving weekend - it's not over.  But, the important part is. Table is all set for Thanksgiving feast Using my nice china for dinner!!! My little scare crow center piece - adds to the season Wednesday:   Wednesday is when my family had their Thanksgiving feast.  Because Rodger had to work on Thursday, we had it Wednesday - since it would be too hard for him and his wife to get here and back on Thanksgiving itself.  Unfortunately, Brandon ended up working.  So, KayeLynn and I worked from the moment we got up, cooking a gorgeous and delicious dinner.  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn, yams, olives, pickles, cheese-stuffed celery, home made cranberry relish. I also made a dutch apple pie.  Crystal brought green bean casserole.  My mama brought pumpkin and cherry pie to go with the other one.  It was an amazing feast.   Pizza for dinner!!! Thursday:   We had so much fun!!!!  I actually woke up around 4:00 in t

So, I have written about joining Weight Watchers and trying to get my butt in gear to lose weight and gain control of  my health and life.  How have I done?  I have gained eight pounds since my first post about losing weight - - yeah, that's pretty dang bad.  I want to blame the stress of dealing with crap; work, KayeLynn has lost her job and recently diagnosed with diabetes - no job means no insurance (except for that wonderful COBRA payment that is more than her unemployment), my mom is dealing with health issues.  It's extremely frustrating - because I cannot continue to blame anything other than myself for my issues - I love food, I love sweets and I have an extremely difficult time controlling myself when I am around temptations. And now it's the holiday season. The last couple of days I have been watching the show Ruby on Netflix.  This is a reality based television show that is based on a woman who, in the first episode, weighs almost 500 pounds.  Never a sweeter w

Graduation Day I call him my baby boy, but, in all actuality - he is a grown man.  And he turns 25-years-old today.  He is sweet and considerate.  He loves with his whole heart. I have so  many memories of this sweet guy: Hawaii - Pearl Harbor Anchor I remember an independent stinker, who turned up missing, only to be found riding his big wheel down the busiest road in the neighborhood - at all of 2-years-old. I thought he was with his dad, his dad thought he was with me.  I ran, full bore and barefoot, down the road until I found him after a neighbor told me where he was. So laid back I remember a six-year-old, outside on the swing set, singing at the top of his lungs, "I Want Your Sex".  WOW!! I remember a young Rodger, sitting down in the family room, playing his latest Nintendo game and when things didn't quite go his way, getting angry at the game on the television and cursing out at it, "Jean Claude Van-Damme it!!" Handsome Uncle at

Yesterday was my adorable, geeky, nerdy, sweet, funny, bone-headed, stubborn, ornery, happy, handsome, smart, romantic husband's birthday.  He worked, I worked.  He and I are old enough that they really don't matter much anymore - life goes on.  Wedding Day I sure wish more people could see what I see when it comes to this man.  Although when I do get crazy enough to ask him a question, I know that whatever he tells me will most likely be true.  I have teased him from about day one in our relationship that he is the "smartest man I know".  It's true though - I have never seen so much information, trivia, smarts and geek in one huge brain.  Here is an example:  Roxann and I were talking about "dongles".  It is pretty much a computer term.  Roxann looked up the official term of it - and I said, "I bet I could send Ted a text right now and get pretty much verbatim that terminology" - so she challenged me to see what he would say.  This is th

Spring Seems when Halloween comes and goes, that you can see the finality of a year coming faster and faster.  It feels as though I always remember what happened this time last year - and last year, I would remember the year before.  This year I am reflecting on how I was a mess because the holidays were coming quickly and I knew right after that, there would be a wedding. Life is such a quick trip.  Though, we think of people as what their age is - "oh, he's just a child", then they are a teen, the twenties come up quickly, then thirties - - life is really a very quick journey.  Myself, I don't feel much different than I did when I was in high school.  I may have a lot more pounds, a worry wrinkle in the middle of my forehead that makes me think of the Grand Canyon, stretch marks, cellulite, achy bones - and a laundry list of prescriptions - I really honestly don't feel like I am much different than I was as a teen - even though all of my kids have seen the

Here is a list of lessons I have learned this Halloween: Angry Bird and Red Devil 1 - Wearing a wig with your costume is not easy. Hence the Amy Winehouse fail. It was very top heavy and difficult to wear - hence the inability to wear it the next week for your costume to the next party. Amy Winehouse Fail 2 - You shouldn't buy a cute and sexy pitchfork to go with your next costume, cute little red devil, if you are going to forget to take it - hence incomplete costume. Super Walker Family 2 - Wearing horns with your little red devil outfit is also difficult, because they want to slip - hence the can and a half of hairspray necessary to keep the curls and the horns in. BooBoo Ladybug 3 - A can and a half of hairspray can be flammable - hence the singe to the tips of the hair when it got to close to the heat. At least it wasn't as bad as Amberly wanted me to believe. Aedynn the Zombie!! 4 - Sambuka is made of the devil - hence the necessity to